Classical World

In the annus mirabilis 2001, about 108 new Hellenistic epigrams were published from the Milan papyrus PMil. Vogl. VIII 309. This collection of poems, attributed by the editors to Posidippus of Pella (3rd century B.C.), soon produced a host of articles by distinguished scholars. One of the most important conferences on the new texts was held at Cincinnati from November 7 to 9, 2002: the book under review contains fourteen papers read on that occasion, plus a complete translation of the whole of Posidippus (not just the "New" one) by F. Nisetich.

The volume, edited and introduced by Gutzwiller, greatly improves our understanding of the "New Posidippus": there is an important discussion on the Milan book roll (W. Johnson) which makes clear how the papyrus served [End Page 316] as a link between the author's copy and a later selection (for an anthology?), and a striking historical identification (D. Thompson: Berenice of Austin-Bastianini [= AB] 78–79 and 82 has to be identified with the daughter of Ptolemy II and Arsinoe I). Many a convincing explanation on single poems is offered by D. Sider, P. Bing, and A. Sens. The ultimate sources of Posidippus are plausibly drawn back to Wonder-books (expecially the sections and Krevans), books on omens ( Sider), literary treatises on statuary ( Stewart).

In some way, this book represents the beginning of a new chapter in the research on the new poems: the first contributions after the publication of the papyrus especially focused on proposing alternative conjectures to fill the lacunae and to emend the corrupted passages and on carefully treating the problem of the authorship of the collection. That "heroic age" is, it seems, slowly passing away (although some of the articles of the Cincinnati papers actually contain conjectures on various lines): the view of most of the contributors is now rather to explore the Milan collection as a whole, stressing what seems to point to a clear organizing strategy (Krevans, Gutzwiller), probably to be assigned to the author himself—a trend towards a well-arranged corpus, which we also find in some Latin authors (Barchiesi). The background of the new epigrams and its relation with Ptolemaic politics and Greek-Egyptian culture are also subtly pointed out (Kuttner, Stephens, Fantuzzi, Thompson, Gutzwiller).

Finally, I mention an article by D. Obbink which points out the subliterary (that is, occasional) character of the new poems, a feature which would account for the fact that, in many cases, Posidippus dormitare videtur (which notoriously led some scholars to doubt Posidippan authorship). The graphic work of the volume is careful and elegant, enriched by splendid pictures of the papyrus.

Some minor remarks: 171–73: D. Sider discusses with skill AB 22: of his supplement (l. 5), it must be said that it is probably better than any other previous suggestion (172). The conjecture, however, makes the crane "the actual cause" of calm, which seems to me a slight contradiction with the fact that cranes actually seek a shelter in the sky, in order to avoid the waves ( implicitly opposes cf. Pind. Pyth. 1.24 ) and to complete the long journey: the lacuna must have contained a verb which just meant "going through" (something like , possibly a less trite one). "Are there other 'didactic epigrams'?" asks Sider (179). A (much later, actually) parallel to the didactic—as Sider aptly demonstrates—Posidippan poems are Strato A.P. 12.1–3, where Aratus is first invoked as a numen tutelare (12.1), then there is a typical list of what Strato will not sing of (12.2), and then the didactic carmen begins, even with the topical addressee (, 12.3.1). The following poems blur the , but didactic undertones turn up now and then (clearly 12.225, probably mocking Hesiod's Op. 383 etc.). 218: A. Sens has the merit (inter alia) of putting together AB 62.2 and 64.3–4: in this way, the comparison assures that (AB 64.3) is an imperative and...